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Though it looks very different from other social justice movements, The movement to free  Uighur Muslims living in China the current movement being joined and followed around the world. we mentioned this issue before but now let’s examine it with the context of social media and how that plays a role in the progress of the movement and also how the restrictions on social media hurt the movements potential of growth.

it is well known that China is heavily regulated when it comes to social media, having their own forms of many of our social medias and monitoring content for things such as Winnie the Pooh another language that goes against what leaders in the country believe. as a result, the concentration camps that Uighur Muslims have been put into. Currently at least 1 million Uighurs live in at least 85 concentration camps throughout China. Here they are subject to physical labor, harsh conditions, and tactics to try and force them to switch from being Muslim. Beyond this, little is known about what latest like in the camps because of the lack of social media allowed there. many of our photos come from satellite images and not from people actually experiencing life in these concentration camps.

Despite all these factors , there is still a social justice movement from younger populations 2 raise awareness within their own countries so that their political leaders will do something about China’s mistreatment of this population. For example, a woman named Samira Imin took to social media to raise awareness to free her father from one of these camps by filming a video and posting it everywhere. Whether social media activists have followed suit posting informational videos to spread awareness of the issue in the forms of tweets, Instagram stories, informational TikToks and beyond. Due to the trade agreements many countries have with China there is fear that no country will stand up to them and take action. In addition, this often raises concerns about how properly this information is being spread in mainstream media. This is why social media is key for spreading awareness towards the issue. Uighurs who are not in these camps but still live in China also try to promote awareness towards the issue and have dealt with censorship issues in the past as well as outspoken posters is being targeted. they’ve had to continually adjust to stay out of harm’s way, including changing the language used in their posts from traditional languages to Mandarin.

As we learned before Brazil has taken advantage of the misinformation spread through mobile phones and other online services in order to affect the integrity of their elections. When we look at the election between Jair Bolsonaro, a significantly far right candidate and Fernando Haddad is significantly left candidate in 2018 we see an election that has been riddled with misinformation not only spread directly by the politicians themselves particularly Bolsonaro but general misinformation spread. WhatsApp, a popular texting app used by over 120 Brazilians contained many political messages that were misleading. In fact a study of 100,000 words as images shared in Brazil found that more than half of them contained misleading or flatly false information. As WhatsApp vouched to protect the truth and delete the spam accounts, they still face the roadblocks that are native to what the app does.

Unlike other social media sharing’s WhatsApp is a texting service, which means that the message is shared are fully encrypted and cannot be screened by WhatsApp or Facebook to see if the information is true. even when people come in and try and fact check , there is pushback due to the mistrust of large corporations. This is also aided by the fact that because it is more personal people tend to trust the information, they see on WhatsApp more than on Facebook or Instagram or another social media website. Bolsonaro ended up being victorious with a 55% swing of the vote. as protesters took to the streets to protest his misogynistic and racist views,  They kept in mind how lies spread through WhatsApp strongly affected the outcome of the election.

It’s also important to note that as cell phone usage has completely increased in Brazil it is still not something universally owned. According to Pew Research about 60% of Brazilians have access to a smartphone which is certainly good compared to other emerging economies. for context a slightly over half of Mexicans have access to a smartphone. Regardless, the cell phone usage in Brazil played a key role in swing a lot of voters on Bolsonaro and he was and Haddad and who he was.

Sources:

How counter-publics enact change, when we consider history on a large scale, has stayed pretty similar, at its core. The counter public must become so visible that the main public sphere has to eventually pay attention, or the routine of the main public sphere becomes interrupted. In the past, women’s right to vote, workers union rights, have included taking to streets, boycotting and striking so that the lawmakers and business workers must pay attention. But the information revolution has changed how we communicate forever, and as a result counter-publics must rely on both digital and in-person actions and demonstrations to evoke change.

Let us examine the Black Lives Matter movement, which is currently (and in the past) successfully mobilizing its efforts in both contexts. When we look at the protests, demonstrations, such as carrying a casket covered in mirrors in response of the killing of Michael Brown in 2014, they have garnered media attention for the physical movements. The benefit of these movements is that when they reach the news, they can become seen by people not aware or particularly caring of the issue. The drawback to this, however, is the media bias that exists and can significantly alter the core message, as well as choosing to show the small percentage of violence as opposed to an overwhelming peaceful and empathy-invoking majority. This applies to the echo chambers we referenced in weeks past and show how these echo chambers can affect counter-publics and their ability to influence.

Additionally, we can also dive into the online influence that exists. When we think about accessibility to knowledge, we are atop a rising curve. Never before has information be easier to find. But when we consider the online media and how it helps to amplify counter-publics, it’s important to recognize the co-mingling of both commercial voices and individuals. As stated in the paper by Zizi Papacharissi, we understand that “Bloggers blog simply because they want to”. While commercial voices are first looking at themselves as a business, individuals have a deep connection to their material and that connection can allow for better reception of material. Blogging also comes in many forms, from posting opinions on Facebook and Instagram, vlogging on YouTube, or even running an opinion column in a prominent news source. The variety allows a wide audience to be reached, especially on a global scale. The personalization also allows members of counter-publics who are isolated geographically from other members to feel connected.

Without both these tools for counter-publics, they would not be able to accomplish their goals nearly as quickly. Today, both methods are vital for enacting real change, the goal of most counter-publics.

Works Cited:

Information Revolution. www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/information-revolution.

Papacharissi , Zizi. “The Virtual Sphere 2.0 : The Internet, the Public Sphere and Beyond.” Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics, by Andrew Chadwick and Philip N. Howard, Routledge, 2010.

Yoganathan PhD candidate in Communication Studies, Nimalan. “Black Lives Matter Movement Uses Creative Tactics to Confront Systemic Racism.” The Conversation, 12 Aug. 2020, theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-movement-uses-creative-tactics-to-confront-systemic-racism-143273.